With President Obama’s approval ratings on the rise, we can expect Republican rhetoric to become increasingly shrill in tone. It is difficult to imagine – they have thrown the kitchen sink at him already – but the better Obama does, the more things Republicans find to attack him for, most of them completely unrelated to reality or the facts on the ground.

It will be no easy task to unseat Obama. Polls show his popularity on the rise with Democrats and Independents (even among Republicans), the economy is improving and Republican enthusiasm waning. More and more Americans are for marriage equality, contraception (including most Catholics) and even abortion rights (a recent ABCNEWS/Washington Post poll shows that support at 57 percent) even while Republicans make those issues central to their platforms. If any movement in history was swimming against a historic tide, it is the GOP of 2012.

A new CNN/ORC International Poll released Wednesday has sobering news for Republicans: “the number of Americans who think things are going well in the country is on the rise. Six out of ten say things are going poorly in the country, but four out of ten say things are going well, up 15 points since November.” This is not the sort of news a party running on the thesis that Obama is driving America into the ground wants to hear – or can afford to hear.

Not that Republican rhetoric will ever reflect these facts – their narrative will forever be divorced from reality and not even running parallel to it. The Republican Party is very skilled at diverting attention from the facts and inventing new ones though this will be more difficult with FOX News’ move toward the center. The steady diet of misinformation that fueled Tea Party rage since 2010 is becoming more spotty (though don’t expect miracles - no, really, don’t). Let’s just say “change” at FOX News is incremental but there is hope when somebody like Bill O’Reilly sticks up for Ellen DeGeneres. I wouldn’t expect to see anyone anytime soon on that network saying in response to attacks on Obama that they are not acting in “the spirit of America” but any move toward center is welcome, however slight.

What matters more than how people are polling today is the likely state of the facts on the ground in November, and here too we see a grim, dark future for GOP hopes. Look at the state of GOP’s vaunted enthusiasm level that drove them into power in 2010:

In October, 64% of Republicans said that they were extremely or very enthusiastic about voting for president, compared to only 43% of Democratic voters. GOP enthusiasm since that time has tumbled 13 points, to 51%, virtually the same as the Democrats’ level of enthusiasm.

Obama holds a 51%-46% margin over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, leads both former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas by the same 52%-45% advantage, and beats former House Speaker Newt Gingrich 55%-42%.

It’s difficult to imagine what more the GOP can say about President Obama, either to slow his rise in popularity or to shore up their own. They are battling against facts and they can try to ignore these but that hope is a slender reed. Clearly, the American people are waking up to the fact that despite all the GOP’s “sky is falling” rhetoric there is still hope and that things can and will improve. The GOP has yet to create a single job, cannot handle the fact that Obama has (and is creating more), and all they seem to want to do is find solutions for problems that don’t exist, like the dangers of people eating fetuses in their food.

We can always question the veracity of polls but the numbers here are looking pretty good. The CNN/ORC International Poll puts Obama’s approval at 50 percent., the highest since June 2011. Things aren’t much better looking at Gallup; for the week of February 14, Gallup shows support for Obama at 47 percent, also the highest since June 2011. The exact numbers might be different but the trend is the same: upward.

After two years, the American people are wise to this as these poll numbers seem to indicate. It will be very difficult for the GOP to gain any traction with its propaganda at this point. It was obvious almost immediately that their sole agenda in Congress was to derail Obama and it’s just as clear that this remains their primary goal. Americans want a little more and they will vote for the party that will give them what they want. If the economy continues to improve, Republicans have little hope.

A sane political party might adapt. Even FOX News has adapted to lower ratings. But there doesn’t seem to be a lot of spare sanity floating around on the right end of the American political landscape. Meanwhile, Republican candidates continue to compare largely meaningless poll numbers because it is becoming apparent that while they might gain on one another, none of them seem capable of even keeping up with Obama, let alone gaining on him or winning in November.

And if Santorum can’t do better than his homophobic marriage meme and Gingrich can’t let go of his imagined reverse-inquisition of the Catholic Church and Romney can’t somehow convince voters lies are truth and Paul can’t stop the flow of information out of his racist past, nothing for the once Grand Old Party is going to change for the better. The rise of Obama is a win for America, and voters seem to be realizing this after 2010’s flirtation with the dark side.

Obama Popularity Rising While Republican Enthusiasm Falls was written by Hrafnkell Haraldsson for PoliticusUSA.

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen's Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.

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Two New Polls Bring Great News For President Obama and… Two polls, one from Gallup that showed President Obama's approval rating surging with Hispanics, and one from CNN that showed that 68% of Americans believe that Congress isn't working with President Obama enough, have brought a bounty of good news to Democrats.

Considering the crop of clowns put forward by the GOP as their best and brightest…this is predictable. I look forward to another four years of Obama, and winning back the house!

Reynardine

Thu, Feb 16th, 2012 at 8:15 am

Since I haven’t got the means to promote it myself, I’ll throw this out there for someone who can: the Right Wing Pepper Grinder. It looks like this little Dominionist preacher, with only one wing- the right one, of course- and when you turn the crank which is inserted in his backside, a torrent of pepper comes out of his mouth.

A Walkaway

Thu, Feb 16th, 2012 at 11:32 am

ROFLMAO!!!

I’d buy one of those (if we had the money)!

Shiva (Moderator)

Thu, Feb 16th, 2012 at 8:37 am

I am not sure where this Fox news is moving to the center thing is coming from. They still tell the same lies and spread the same BS as they did last year. the same absolute silly rhetoric is still coming in droves. If they tell you they are moving to the center than it is a lie, especially in an election year.

I am so pleased to see all three of the candidates jumping off the cliff for religion and birth control. The Catholic Church thought it was time and that there message would sway people but unfortunately they were wrong. Trying to get rid of birth control during an election year had to come from a 90-year-old pope with spaghetti for brains.

The tea party Congress. The lowest rated Congress in history and the first to be open about the fact they will do nothing for the people and everything for corporations. well done Mr. Cantor and Mr. Boehner, you have lowered the people’s impression of their own government to almost a flat zero. Need I say election year again?

sachet

Thu, Feb 16th, 2012 at 10:50 am

President Obama is a great leader. In spite of Repub obstruction.

sachet

Thu, Feb 16th, 2012 at 10:54 am

The Repubs have up for nomination, two hardcore RACISTS, Gingrich and Santorum, and a corporate sponsored TAX EVADER, Romney.

sachet

Thu, Feb 16th, 2012 at 10:56 am

Romney is also the king of job outsourcing.

A Walkaway

Thu, Feb 16th, 2012 at 11:36 am

It’s nice to read encouraging things like this, but the election is still months away and I remember past elections where the person I wanted was doing well months in advance, but lost at seemingly the last minute.

We can’t lower our guard and we MUST keep up the pressure (keep fighting against the Religious Right/Conservatives/Republicans in general).

Of course, I don’t want to always read gloom-and-doom, and things like this do give hope (a slender reed, admittedly – but for some of us it’s all we have).

Doesn't Matter

Thu, Feb 16th, 2012 at 7:03 pm

I don’t care what camp your political devotions lie in, but if you still think that President Obama has done a good job (and will do a good job should he get re-elected), you need to think about how much you value your life as a human being on this Earth, in this country.

The guy ran on a platform of hope and change and we have got nothing in return, but liberty infringing bills and irresponsible, unsustainable and uncontrollable spending of our hard earned taxpayer dollars. That, in conjunction with subsidizing private corporations with our public money… Detention of American citizens on our own soil (PATRIOT act styles, ring any bells?)… Spending spending spending, new wars without consent of Congress… Why is it that we stopped scrutinizing these types acts when it wasn’t George Bush doing it anymore?

If you vote for Obama for no other reason than “to beat the GOP”, then I might suggest that you are no better inspired or informed than your naysayers.

Obama is nothing but the face and a cogwheel of a government – that if they could have their way, hang you up to dry for pennies on the dollar – he is nothing more than a hollow man who excels at speaking to people in a manner that makes them feel compassionate by tugging on their moral strings, and in effect amassing a following to protect his (a.k.a, his superiors’) position in this big production.

Shiva (Moderator)

Thu, Feb 16th, 2012 at 7:39 pm

Gee, that’s sad. And the only thing missing is Ron Paul 2012

CW in LA

Thu, Feb 16th, 2012 at 8:20 pm

Paulbearers often try and gloss over the fact that they’re Paulbearers, since they can’t endure hearing what a big giant phony their wizened gray messiah is.